FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Adaptation is about planning and acting for a more variable and uncertain climate. In order to do this, we must first be able to increase our ability to tackle the climate today. Then we must plan for increased flexibility in our ability to respond to changes in our future climate. This means asking questions like – are the actions we are taking now going to increase the range of options we have for the future, or reduce them? We want to avoid taking actions that will lock us into a particular technology or development pathway, or make it more difficult or too expensive to change later on.

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION?

Nepal has a lot to be proud of. There are plenty of great examples of community driven initiatives that are successfully changing people’s lives for the better. They are helping communities respond to real and expected climate change risks. But these initiatives are often limited to one geographic area or a few communities. Imagine what could be achieved if these success stories could be expanded (scaled up)? What if more people could use this experience to improve the way they live and respond to climate change? The benefits could be HUGE!

We believe that by offering a financial rewards, we can encourage people like yourself, and the organisation you work for, to use the experience you have gained to find new and innovative ways of expanding and ‘scaling-up’ these successful climate change adaptation initiatives. The aim of the Adaptation at Scale Prize is to encourage eligible organisations to develop new and innovative ways to scale-up community driven climate change adaptation initiatives. It will do this by offering financial rewards to organisations that can show their ‘new approach’ has been successful.

We are looking for existing community driven projects that are already achieving positive results, but who want to scale-up their success to more people and new areas of Nepal. They should have a clear idea of how they can go beyond any existing plans for expansion by using new and innovative ways of working. Prizes will be awarded to organisations that can show that they have achieved positive outcomes for more poor and vulnerable

WHAT IS THE ADAPTATION AT SCALE PRIZE?

The prize is aimed at organisations who work closely with poor and vulnerable communities, and can act as intermediaries between communities and actors such as Government, donors and other funders. They could be INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, academic institutions and the private sector.

WHO IS THE ADAPTATION AT SCALE PRIZE MEANT FOR?

Through the Adaptation at Scale Prize, we’re looking for any kind of organisation, project, process, tool, solution that is addressing climate change adaptation in Nepal, and is clearly working with communities to respond to community level needs and demands on climate change risks. This could be by:

sharing information or knowledge on climate change adaptation

knowledge management in climate change adaptation

building capacity within the community on climate change adaptation

building, or working with, networks on climate change adaptation

delivering a climate change adaptation service or technical solution

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A CLIMATE CHANGE 'INITIATIVE'?

This ‘innovations’ Prize is not focused on technological solutions to climate change adaptation. The Prize is not available as start-up funding for ‘innovations & technology’ tools for climate change adaptation - the Prize will be awarded to climate change adaptation initiatives that are already established, and recognised as a success, but can offer an innovative and new ideas for growing or ‘scaling-up’ that initiative – adapting to climate change on a larger scale.

WHAT KINDS OF 'INITIATIVES' OR 'INNOVATIONS' IS THE PRIZE NOT AIMED AT?

Applicants can be any nationality, but the applying organisation must be formally registered in Nepal, and the climate change adaptation initiative must be working in Nepal and addressing climate change issues in Nepal.

CAN I APPLY IF I'M NOT FROM NEPAL?

The application form should be completed either in English or Nepali language. Application forms can be requested from the project managers, and returned electronically by email or by post to the Prize Office address. Applicants who cannot complete their application electronically, can get hard copies of the registration forms by emailing support@adaptationatscale.org or calling 01-4421739/4445565.

CAN I COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM IN ANY LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH?

The Prize Team are happy to respond to any queries or clarifications you have about the prize and how it works.

WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT CAN I EXPECT TO RECEIVE THROUGHOUT MY SUBMISSION?

You can contact us on support@adaptationatscale.org with any queries relating to the Prize or your submission.

HOW CAN I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU IF I HAVE A QUERY ON MY SUBMISSION?

You can withdraw your submission, modify and then resubmit as long as it is before the already defined deadlines.

CAN I MODIFY MY SUBMISSION IF IT IS PRIOR TO THE DEADLINE?

We will have an independent judging panel of independent technical experts. Staff associated with the prize will not be on the panel.

WHO WILL BE ON THE JUDGING PANEL?

The due diligence assessment is a simple background check to ensure your submission complies with the terms and conditions.

WHAT DOES A 'DUE DILIGENCE ASSESSMENT' ENTAIL?

Results of the Karyanwayein Prize (Stage 2) will be announced in April 2019

WHEN WILL THE RESULTS OF THE COMPETITION BE COMMUNICATED?

The Prize is managed by IMC World Wide Ltd., based in UK, under the Ideas to Impact Programme. In Nepal, the project is being managed by IDS Nepal/CGED Nepal/SIAS Consortium.

WHO IS MANAGING THE COMPETITION?

The prize is funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID)

WHERE DO THE PRIZE FUNDS COME FROM?

You are responsible for finding your own funding to support stage 2 of the project. The Adaptation at Scale Prize is an incentive payment payable for successfully diverting your available funds towards attainment of the Adaptation at Scale objectives. No upfront funding is available through the programme. You may identify funding from two main sources:

Funding from Private sources - e.g., Your own accounts or personal investment, donations or investments from individuals or corporations (Protsahan (Stage 1 ) prize money is considered Private funds not Public as you will have received in recognition of results that have already been achieved).

Funding from Public Sources - Plans for scaling up that are already (at the time Adaptation at Scale is launched on 5 May 2016) supported by public funds are not eligible for award. This includes any plans and funds that are already under discussion or negotiation on 5 May 2016. Public funds received as a result of engagement with donors based on your plan developed for the Protsahan (Stage 1) Prize may be used to support your application to the Karyanwayein (Stage 2) prize .

DEFINING THE ELIGIBILTY OF PUBLIC FINANCE

The Stage1 prize aims to incentivise new ideas to scale up existing successful adaptation programmes

For stage 1 we want to see ideas that are ambitious, novel and go beyond your existing initiatives, and any plans and funding you already have in place

We want to challenge existing ideas for how to scale up, which means we also want to look beyond existing plans and finance arrangements

With this in mind, the Stage 1 prize will reward the applicants with the best idea for how to scale up their initiative beyond existing plans and finance arrangements

We expect applications to be based on an existing successful climate adaptation initiative.

These plans should not already be in place and importantly should not have any donor funds committed or under discussion at the time of the launch of the Adaptation to Scale Prize on 05 May 2016.

For Stage 2 we recognise that many of the applicants will need donor funding support to implement plans. This is OK

The Stage 2 prize is an incentive payment encouraging applicants to channel funding and effort towards the attainment of Adaptation at Scale objectives

If you already have plans and funding (either in place or in discussion ) for scale up at the time the prize is launched on 5 May 2016, then these plans and associated funds have not been incentivised by the prize and are not eligible.

If you have donor funds already in place but not committed to scaling up and are able to re-direct the funds towards the objectives of the programme then these funds are eligible as their utilisation has been incentivised by the prize

Each applicant will have to provide evidence of how they have successfully diverted or drawn in funding towards the objectives of Adaptation at Scale and how they have undertaken more than their planned programme of work as defined at the launch of Adaptation to Scale on 05 May 2016.

No. Adaptation at Scale provides no financing for Stage 2. It is an incentive based programme similar to a results based financing programme.

WILL WE BE PROVIDED WITH ANY FUNDING FOR STAGE 2?

Yes. The payment made as a reward for work that has already been achieved. Protsahan Prize winners may use prize funds to invest in Karyanwayein. The prize funds are not a grant, i.e., no reporting against the funds is expected or required. For the purposes of evaluation and learning the Prize Managers retain the right to audit how prize funds are utilised.

CAN WE USE THE PRIZE MONEY FOR OTHER PROGRAMMES WITHIN OUR ORGANISATION?

No, the prize is payable as an award for work that has already been achieved.

DO WE HAVE TO REPORT HOW WE SPEND THE PRIZE MONEY?

The value of the Karyanwein prize will depend on the quality of plans submitted. The total prize purse initially available for Karyanwein prize is £325,000. As an incentive programme similar to a results-based-payment the value of the Karyanwein prize will match the perceived value of innovative adaptation scaling plans submitted and implemented in the field. A plan that is high quality, innovative and presents a significant improvement in the scale of results achieved, in line with the judging criteria, will receive higher levels of reward as independently assessed by the judges.

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL WE GET IF WE WIN STAGE 1?

There are many differences the main ones are:

The award is an incentive payment similar to a results based payment. The prize amount is set by the Prize Managers and is based on the value of what has been achieved; the value of the prize is NOT based on the costs you have incurred.

Only the winners will receive a prize

You do not have to account for how you spend the prize money

A greater investment is expected from the applicants in order to develop a solution, greater than the level of effort required in filling in a typical grant application. This results in a greater degree of risk sharing between the applicant and the donor.

We have given details of the problem we want to address but there are no Terms of Reference to describe the approach to solving the problem. You have to develop the approach to solve the problem yourself.